How Many Calories Do 12 Minute Athlete Workouts Burn?

I can’t tell you how many times a week I get asked how many calories the 12 Minute Athlete HIIT workouts burn.

I always have a hard time responding, because the short answer is: I don’t know.

Not because the calorie burn can’t be measured at all, but because there are so many different factors to consider when trying to figure out how many calories you’re burning.

Things like:

How much you weigh (the more you weigh, the more calories you’ll burn)

Whether you’re male or female (men will burn more, but a lot of that is due to the fact that they’re just heavier)

How hard you work (you’ll burn more the harder you work)

What your fitness level is and how efficient your body is at burning fat

And so on.

So, you can see, for all of those reasons and more, it’s tough to give you guys a straight answer when you ask me about calories.

Calories and the afterburn effect

Studies have shown that high intensity workouts like the workouts on the site and in the 12 Minute Athlete app can burn upwards of 12 to 22 calories per minute, so that’s the simplest answer I could give you about calories without knowing more details about you personally.

Compare that to about 10 that you burn exercising moderately (jogging, biking, etc.), and that seems pretty awesome.

But what it doesn’t take into account is the possible afterburn effect of HIIT.

The afterburn effect refers to the amount of calories and fat that your body is able to burn post-workout. Various studies have shown that high intensity interval training can burn up to nine times more fat when compared to steady-state, low intensity cardio workouts—and increase your metabolism for up to 48 hours afterwards (moderate intensity workouts only burn calories during the actual workout, not afterwards).

Yet before you decide to work out and then sit on the couch the rest of the day thinking you’re still burning tons of calories, you have to realize that for any of that awesome calorie-burning, fat-blasting stuff to happen, you have to work really hard during your workouts.

Ideally, you’ll not only be gasping for breath at the end of your workouts, your muscles should also be burning like crazy (in fitness terms, this means you’ll be in an anaerobic state of training). This will allow you to maximize calorie burn both during and after your workouts.

Which leads me back to my original point—there’s no easy answer to how many calories you’re burning.

Stop obsessing, start living

The main thing you should know about these HIIT workouts?

They work.

When I was still early on in my fitness journey, I used to track every single bit of exercise I did. I even wore one of those BodyMedia armbands (some of the most accurate wearable calorie counters because they measure your movement as well as skin temperature, sweat, heat produced, and steps taken) so I’d know exactly how many calories I was burning through movement and exercise each day.

Yet despite my obsession about calories, I had a really hard time getting in the sort of shape I wanted to be in.

I’d spend hours exercising every day, absolutely obsessed with how many calories each treadmill and weight training session burned. But it was only when I ditched the crazy calorie counting and started focusing on mostly HIIT training and following the 80/20 rule that I was able to finally start getting leaner and get stronger and fitter than ever before.

It’s not all about the calories

I know most of us (even as personal trainers) learn that fat loss can be reduced to calories in and calories out, but that simple equation just doesn’t take everything else into account.

Because not only will the 12 Minute Athlete workouts give you a lot more time in your day to spend on things you really want to be doing, they work in other ways as well:

They help normalize your appetite. Unlike endurance training, these HIIT workouts won’t make you starving all day long. Sure, you’ll still want to eat—but as long as you focus on mostly the good stuff (protein, veggies, fruits, etc.), you’ll just be fueling your body to help it get stronger and more athletic rather than putting on fat.

They result in muscular gains. These workouts will help you gain muscle—which, in turn, will can turn lead to greater fat loss (as long as you’re not overeating a bunch). Plus, more muscle means you’ll be stronger, healthier, and more confident, all pretty awesome side effects if you ask me.

They help contribute to a better healthier lifestyle. If I had my way, you’d all stop counting calories burned through exercise right this second. Don’t get me wrong, as I explained earlier, I definitely understand the appeal—but on the whole, when people start counting their calories in (i.e. food) and calories out (i.e. activity/exercise), they tend to overestimate their activity levels, leading to a plateau or even weight gain.

Doing these workouts 3-5 times a week, getting more active in your daily life and general, and eating relatively healthy, balanced meals will all help you reach your goals faster than calorie counting will—and help you stay there longterm.

So work hard, eat well, and most of all, remember to have fun! Life is meant to be enjoyed, after all.

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8 Comments

Charlene
October 22, 2014 at 10:44 am

Hi,
I am currently pregnant, early stages and having been incorporating your 12 minute hiit regularly into my workouts, which I love!! Do you suggest carrying on with them as normal? Understand this will be a diffucult one for you to answer and wouldnt want you to feel you have to give a definite answer. Have you trained any pregnant woman with this? Any information is much appreciated. Thank you!! 🙂

Belle
May 27, 2015 at 5:32 pm

I just did my first 12 minute athlete workout!! It was great! I’m so happy I found this page because I’ve been trying to get out of this plateau I’ve been in and I am gonna stick to this type of workout three days a week as I continue on with my other daily activities. I am determined to live my life instead of dread every 30 to 50 minute workout. 😀

Odette
June 8, 2015 at 1:40 pm

Hi, I’m trying to lose a bit a weight, so I know that I have to create a certain calorie deficit to lose 1/2 to 1 pound a week, and I want to have my cardio cause some of the deficit (because I can’t eat only 1280 calories a day!), but if it’s hard to figure out the calorie burn from HIIT exercises, how can I know how much to eat? I feel like if I just experiment, I’ll be dragging on the need for a calorie deficit much longer since I might end up eating more than I should.

Also, these exercises should go in conjunction with strength training, right? You mentioned that these workouts build muscle, but I don’t want to overtrain my muscles by working them out during strength AND cardio… Since these exercises are done aerobically, do they not count as strength training?

[…] a short amount of time. With a baby in the picture, time is more precious than gold. According to 12 Minute Athlete, HIIT workouts burn 12 to 22 calories per minutes and increase your metabolism for the next 48 […]

MathematicallyInconsistent
October 13, 2015 at 5:09 am

How is this 12 minutes? 18 rounds of 6 exercises that last 30 seconds a piece? Six 30-second exercises would be 3 minutes. Three minutes 18 times is an hour and 12 minutes. Plus the 50 seconds of rest 18 times which adds 15 more minutes. I’m confused.

Kersten Kimura
May 10, 2016 at 11:35 am

Hi MathematicallyInconsistent, here’s how it works: You’ll be doing 6 exercises and rotate them through 3 times, 30 seconds each, each 30 seconds of work followed by 10 second rest.
18 rounds of 30 seconds (work time) is 9 minutes.
18 rounds of 10 seconds (rest time) is 3 minutes.
9+3=12 minutes.

LoveThisApp
May 10, 2016 at 10:11 am

@MathematicallyInconsistent just press “go” you’ll figure it out later 😉

Lynn
July 18, 2016 at 3:04 pm

Hi, during the workout do i have to do different work out during the 6 round to get the most effects or can i just ring on the spot? and while resting can i do hook punch, long side arm stretch, lunges and press,and side kicks? thanks.
Ive been doing and eating healthy since september last year, at the first 4 mths doing slim in 6 double program each day for 6-7 days a week and subsequently i shredded 6kg but since jan/feb 2016 progress is slow or even stagnated so i decided to do tao bo, or cardio party mix 1 for 6 days a week and at night i sometime do weights for 30mins focusing on arms and shoulders only. I consumed about 200calories half an hour before exercise which consist of 2 slices of toast with peanut butter of 1 slice with an egg, after exercise i normally have a handful of nuts or a serve of yogurt, dinner is usually around 8pm sometimes i have dumplings or french baguette with ham and salad, and around 9 i normally have around 500g of papaya and 3 mandarin (at least 2 serves of fruits). I think my routine is pretty normally but somehow im not making progress since feb 2016. This week i decided to do HIIT on monday and tuesday, wednesday and thursday i do upper body weights for around 30mins plus slim in six firm it up for 70mins, friday HIIT and sat weight and firm it up again and sunday just 7km walk. Please give me your professional experience of what you think im doing wrong because i dont give up and forever trying to adjust my regime until i find one that i find results. Thanks By the way i do HIIT for 20mins consist of 30sec of power jog on the spot and 30 sec of some med intensity move mentioned above

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